RTÉ and Poems Plain

When he appeared on 'The Late Late Show' in 1995 after winning the Nobel Prize, Seamus Heaney recalled that he had read his work on the same show in the late 1960s. Sadly there is no existing recording of this programme, but as well as participating in dozens of RTÉ radio and television productions, Heaney also presented a number of programmes. In 1972 he presented 'Imprint', a books programme on radio. Writing about 'Imprint' in the RTÉ Guide at the time, he recalled listening to Austin Clarke's poetry programme:

"I remember sitting with my ear to the baize-and-fretwork speaker of a big Cossor wireless picking up that unperturbed voice making its way among the strange squeaks and bubbles of the wave bands (they said it was the old valves that did it) between Dublin and Derry."

Presented here are extracts from another radio series 'Poems Plain', in which Heaney talks about poets and poetry. There is also a short extract from the school programme 'Telefís Scoile', in which Heaney discusses 'Macbeth'.